There is growing suspicion to the bats as the source of COVID-19 outbreak. It is also said that bats are the reservoirs of viruses and it may jump to humans at one point of time or the other. There are different cultures of eating bats to conservation across the globe. According to Bat Specialist Tigga Kingston, bats are important for human welfare and ecosystem health. They play critical roles worth billions of dollars as pollinators, seed dispersers and agents of pest suppression.
I am very much concerned about the practice of eating bats, rodents and ungulates as because I belong to an area where such practice is still prevalent. It is difficult to pass on such an message to the community who have age-old culture of eating these animals. At the same time looking at the facts that these animals are reservoirs of viruses I would say such practice should be stopped now. In fact, the boundary between humans and animals is diminishing nowadays due to destruction of habitats and the likelihood of viruses jumping from animals to humans will be remarkably high in the coming days. Inviting your opinions for this pertinent discussion.
I am uploading herewith the link of Down To Earth
COVID-19: ‘It is easy to blame bats than to look at ourselves’
Bat expert Tigga Kingston, Co-Chair of the Bat Specialist Group, at the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Species Survival Commission, and professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Texas Tech University at Lubbock
Interview taken by By Rajat Ghai
Last Updated: Tuesday 05 May 2020
https://www.downtoearth.org.in/interviews/wildlife-and-biodiversity/covid-19-it-is-easy-to-blame-bats-than-to-look-at-ourselves--70900
Yes, because bats are known to harbour highly pathogenic viruses.
Article Bats as Viral Reservoirs
Article Bats: Important Reservoir Hosts of Emerging Viruses
The outbreak of the new coronavirus, which has killed more than ... which scientists believe was passed to humans from bats, via civets. ... to eat anything,” said one commenter called Sun on a news discussion ... “We must stop eating wildlife and those who do should be sentenced to ... Reuters News Now.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-wildlife/animals-live-for-man-chinas-appetite-for-wildlife-likely-to-survive-virus-idUSKBN20A0RK
The Covid-19 pandemic shows we must transform the global food system ... It was bats. ... Individually, we must stop eating animal products. ... After the Sars outbreak in 2003, an essay in the American Journal of Public Health ... Now, just as experts predicted, eating animals is coming back to bite us.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/16/coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic-food-animals
Ijaz Durrani Thank you very much Sir for sharing your valuable opinion.
Yes, because bats are known to harbour highly pathogenic viruses.
Article Bats as Viral Reservoirs
Article Bats: Important Reservoir Hosts of Emerging Viruses
Arvind Singh Thanks a lot Sir for your valuable inputs. However, it is difficult to convince people as the practice is embedded with culture. Such an effort may lead to conflicts also.
Hi.
I agree with the views about the convenience of don't eat bats by humans, even if this practice is traditional from many years (e.g. in Asia). The risks are really high at the moment...
Best regards.
Dear Dr Gibji-- The flip side Racist memes target Chinese eating habits, but the real causes of the virus are more mundane.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/01/27/coronavirus-covid19-dont-blame-bat-soup-for-the-virus/
Bats: Resistant to viruses, but not to humans https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/bats-resistant-to-viruses-but-not-to-humans/
The notion that the Covid-19 pandemic all began because one person in China ate a bat is a prevalent one, but conservationists are fighting back against misleading claims
https://geographical.co.uk/nature/wildlife/item/3662-coronavirus-should-we-be-afraid-of-bats
Kind regards--
This question tends to be unresolved for a long time. Before this covid 19 we have seen two more deadly viral disease in the last decade. SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV which have cause much fear and destruction to human. The debate on whether the eating of bats should be stopped or not is pertinent. But we shouldnt ignore the fact that only consumption didnt lead to any outbreak as we can see the case of MERS-CoV. It can jump to human through close contact with body fluids like mucus, blood, faeces or urine. At this point, yes ,we should stop for a brief period. But for how long. Since as a tribal it is embedded in our culture and much of us are still dependent on wild nature and its product. As per my perspective we need to regulate and decommercialised the wild products so that the frequency of contact is minimum and the chances of mixing of gene pool of different animals can be avoided. And we need to work out on our greed too and stop interfering with the nature. Since the human population exploded we are expanding our territory to wilderness and coming in close contact with different animals which in turns carry the unseen and unknown diseases.
Karo Jongkey You are correct my dear...the distance between animals and human beings have became very now...with the passage of time those animals which were never consumed are also being tried by many...the curiosity of human beings to test everything is of much concern here...sound culture or tradition should be maintained but we need to discontinue some unhealthy culture or tradition also we have to maintain the ecological balance...
You don't need to eat bats to get infected by a virus which originated from bats. One example is Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), also known as camel flu, which is caused by MERS-Coronavirus, which is believed to have originated from bats, and jumped to camels. Now camels don't eat bats. Also, you don't need to eat camel to get infected, you can get infected by being close to camels.
Also, there has been bird-flu and swine-flu, but we have not stopped eating chicken and pork. I think a lot of this thinking comes from finding a cultural practice of another community unacceptable. Vegans blame it all on eating animals.
Dear DR Gibji:
Zoonotic diseases - which jump from animals to humans - are increasing and will continue to do so without action to protect wildlife and preserve the environment, UN experts have warned.
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-53314432
Chinese wild life trade:
https://www.ft.com/content/55b2f73f-c05f-4faf-ba89-1af0c082644b
Regards--
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